Device for handling x-ray apparatus flexible conductors



Nov.- 17, i970 v. s. soBoLEwsKl 3,541,355@

DEVICE FOR HANDLING X-RAY APPARATUS FLEXIBLE CONDUCTORS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 22, 1967 u i mazazzzaz* Nov. 17, 1970 v. s. soBoLr-:wsKl' DEVICE FOR HANDLING X-RAY APPARATUS FLEXIBLE CONDUCTORS Filed March 22, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,541,334 DEVICE FOR HANDLING X-RAY APPARATUS FLEXIBLE CONDUCTORS Valentine S. Sobolewsk, Muskego, and James R. Spalding, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 22, 1967, Ser. No. 625,052 Int. Cl. G0311 41 /16 U.S. Cl. 250-91 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device for supporting and preventing fouling of flexible conductors that supply an X-ray device which is mounted for executing bilateral rectilinear movements. One example is where the flexible conductors are run to an X-ray device which is mounted on apparatus that is similar to an overhead crane. In this arrangement, a bridge or beam is supported on end wheels which run on tracks mounted on opposite Walls of a room. A carriage runs lengthwise of the beam and has projecting down from it an extensible and contractible support for the X-ray device which may be an X-ray tube casing and collimator or an X-ray image amplifier, for example. Movement of the carriage and the beam cause varying degrees of slack and tension in the conductors which must be taken up or relieved to avoid fouling or breaking of the conductors.

Heretofore, the conductors have been run from their source into a stationary duct where they are looped back on themselves and passed into the movable beam. The loop is formed around a pulley which is on a trolley in the duct. A complicated cable system connects the trolley to counterweights or springs which maintain a yieldable force on the trolley and thereby keep the conductors at a fairly uniform tension. An illustration of one prior art conductor handling system which the present invention may supersede may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,037,119. Prior art X-ray conductor handling devices have many disadvantages. Their use of cables, pulleys, counterweights, bearings, shafts, rollers, trolleys, and so forth, results in undesirable vulnerability to breakdown, high manufacturing costs, and high cost to the customer. This cornplicatedness reduces reliability. Every installation is uniquely adapted to a particular room size so it is diflicult to standardize the parts. The devices have high friction and inertia which must be overcome by manual effort on the part of the operator. Assembling, testing, and adjusting prior art conductor handling devices must be done on the customer premises to a large extent, thus extending installation time and increasing the cost to the customer.

' United States Patent Olhce Patented Nov. 17, 1970 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The new device for handling X-ray apparatus conductors is distinguished by its simplicity. One embodiment involves mounting an open-sided channel member on the wall of a room in which the X-ray device is located. The channel is usually parallel with and under the track on which the overhead X-ray device runs. The channel may be made as two telescoping parts which interfit and can be slideably extended to adapt to any beam travel distance and room size that one is likely to encounter. This contributes to solving the problem of standardization.

The conductors are simply run into the end of the channel member and looped or bent back on themselves to form two parallel conductor legs extending in the same direction from the U-bend. A spring metal band having a curved cross-section runs along much of the conductor length and it too is -bent back to act as a spring support for the conductors which are fastened loosely to it with clips. The curved cross-section of the strip makes it a. stift support for each conductor leg and yet the two legs can be shifted on parallel lines with respect to each other without encountering appreciable resistance.

One end of the strip is fastened along with the conductors to the movable device such as the transverse beam. The other end of the strip is fastened with the conductors at about the midpoint of the channel member. For shorter than usual runs, a strip of standard length may have its end fastened closer to the end of the channel where the conductors enter. For longer than usual runs, the strip end may be fastened closer to the midpoint. Thus, one strip may serve for most installations.

When the overhead beam is moved along the tracks a small endwise thrust on the conductors and strip causes the U-bent region to shift, thereby changing the length of one leg of the conductor and strip at the expense of the other. The one leg remains supported in parallelism and with little sag above the other.

The conductor supporting clips have laterally extending inserts for increasing their width to nearly the width of the inside of the channel member. This keeps the conductor support in alignment and reduces friction with respect to the inside walls of the channel.

The conductors running through the beam on their way to the under hung device may be handled in the beam in a similar fashion as will be explained in more detail later.

The invention is also applicable to other X-ray apparatus wherein handling conductors has been problematical such as inside diagnostic X-ray tables where an X-ray tube or image amplifier is mounted on tracks for being moved longitudinally and transversely under the table top. Those versed in the X-ray apparatus art will be able to make this adaptation in view of the detailed description given herein of the illustrative embodiment relating to an overhead X-ray tube support.

Accordingly, a general object of this invention is to provide a new means for handling X-ray apparatus conductors. More specific objects are to handle X-ray conductors with a device that is simple to construct, easy to install and use, that has low friction and inertia, that is inexpensive, and that is made largely of standardized components and is thus, easily adaptable to various installations. How the foregoing and other more specific objects are achieved, will be evident in the ensuing specilication taken in conjunction with the drawing.

3 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an overhead X-ray tube support, with parts broken away, and embodying the new conductor handling device;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the longitudinal track and the conductor channel taken on a line corresponding with 2-2 in FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the transverse beam on a line corresponding with 3-3` in FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the track and channel assembly with a part broken away to show the disposition of the conductors and their support in the channel;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of the conductor channel; and,

FIG. 6 is an exploded isometric view of the conductor supporting strip and associated fastening means.

FIG. l shows an X-ray tube casing 10 and a collimator 11 supported on the lower end of a vertically telescoping column 12 which is supported on a carriage assembly 13. The carriage 13 is provided with wheels, not shown, which cooperate with tracks, not shown, which run lengthwise of a beam member 14 that extends laterally across an X- ray diagnostic room.

Each end of the beam 14 is provided with rollers such as 15 at one end in FIG. 1 and 16 at the other end in FIG. 2. These rollers run respectively on tracks 17 and 18 so that beam 14 may be translated longitudinally of the room.

In some installations, an X-ray image amplier or other device useful in diagnosis is mounted on ltelescoping support 12 in place of X-ray tube casing 10` and collimator 11. In any case, it is necessary to make electrical connections between these devices and stationary power or control sources such as a high voltage X-ray transformer 38. These interconnections are made with cables and tubes which in FIG. l are collectively designated by reference numeral 19. Two of the conductors are shown as being connected into the high voltage power supply 38 for the X-ray tube and one conductor is broken off to suggest that it may go to a control cabinet, not shown, or to a remote source of power, not shown, for supplying the collimator 11 for instance. The number and type of conductors varies with the installation and, as indicated, some may be for transmitting electricity and others may be for conducting iluids from a stationary to a movable point.

In FIG. 1 one may see that conductors 19 enter the end of an open-sided channel member 20. One section or leg 21 of the conductor lays in the bottom of channel 20 and the other leg 22 is folded back on itself to create a U-bend 23. In this embodiment, legs 21 and 22 are in essentially the same vertical plane but the channel member may be proportioned to permit the two legs to lay in a common horizontal plane as well. An entrance hole 24 for conductors 19 is visible in the end of channel 20 in FIG. 5.

The conductors 19 are prohibited from becoming tangled by being supported in channel 20 on a metal strip 25 which is adjacent the conductors and follows in parallelism with them along horizontal leg 22, around the bend 23 and partially along lower horizontal leg 21. Strip 25 is made of thin spring metal and is formed with a concavity on one side and a convexity on the other side when viewed in Across-section. A curved strip of this kind has a higher moment of inertia than a fiat strip of similar thickness so it has greater rigidity and greater capacity to support a distributed load without having one part of the strip collapse onto the other when a U-bend 23 is imparted to it as can be seen clearly in FIGS. 1, 4, and 6. Nevertheless, the legs of strip 25 as seen in FIG. 6, for example, may be moved in opposite endwise directions with respect to each other without encountering any appreciable resistance as a result of the bend 23 being constantly reformed in a new position along the strip.

In FIG. l the end of the upper leg 22 of the strip is secured along with the conductors 19 to the longitudinally movable beam 14 at a point identified by the reference numeral 26. The end of the strip in the lower plane is fastened at 27 to the bottom of channel member 20. The two fastening means 26 and 27 are more readily visible in the vertical sectional view, FIG. 2. Here, one may see that the upper leg of the conductors 19 reside on the concave side of curved supporting strip 25 and that in the clamping region, strip 25 is backed by a stiff curved metal segment 28. A bracket 29 attaches to beam 14 and by means of bolts 30 and a strap 31, the conductors 19, strip 25 and segment 28 are secured to bracket 2'9 as shown. Thus, it is evident that the conductors and strip will move endwise when beam 14 is moved longitudinally back and forth on its track 18. A similar assembly 27 is shown in FIG. 2 for clamping the lower end of the strip in the bottom of channel 20.

At various points between the clamped ends 26 and 27 of the strip 25, the conductors are loosely engaged to the strip by means of spring clips 32, see FIGS. 4 and 6. The shape of these clips 32 may be seen best in FIG. 6 where it is also evident that the legs of the clips are adapted to be spread slightly to fit into indentations 33 in the edges of strip 25 so the clips cannot shift along the strip. Holes are provided in the legs of the clips for accommodating button-like inserts 34 of nylon or other antifriction material. The overall width of the clips 32 and the two nylon inserts is just slightly less than the internal width of channel 20. This assures that the conductors and strip 25 will not have a tendency to twist in the region of U-bend 23 and it further reduces the friction that would otherwise occur between the insides of channel 20 and strip 25. The inserts also eliminate noise that may result from metal-to-metal contact.

It is important that clips 32 engage conductors 19 loosely so that curved strip 25 and the conductors can bend about their individual neutral axes in the region of U-bend 23. If the conductors are tightly held on strip 25 with the clips, internal stresses may be set up in the conductors which would reduce their life and increase the force that would be necessary for moving them endwise. In FIG. 4, one may see that engaging conductors 19 loosely with clips 32 results in the conductor sagging a little bit between clips 32 but this is immaterial.

In FIG. 5 it is evident that channel 20 is made in two interiitting telescoping sections of substantially similar cross-section. As mentioned earlier, a benet of this construction is that the channel can be telescoped inwardly or outwardly to adapt it to any track length or beam travel distance. Thus, the need for holding the length of the channel to a specific dimension for each intallation is avoided. The front wall of channel 20 has a lesser height than therear wall so as to provide a side opening for the conductors to pass from channel 20 into the end of beam 14.

The conductors 19 Imay be handled within transverse beam 14 in a manner similar to that described above in connection with handling them in channel member 20. For this purpose, as seen clearly in FIG. 3, the inside of beam 14 may be provided as its bottom with an opensided channel member 36. The conductors may enter beam 14 through a grommeted oblong opening 37 in the end of the beam which is adjacent channel member 20. The conductors are again supported on a metal strip 25 having a curved cross-section. The lower run of the conductors is clamped with an assembly 27 and the upper run with an assembly 26' as is evident from inspection of FIG. 3. The conductors 19 extend out of the bottom of beam 14 and follow along the back of telescopic column 12 where they connect to the x-ray tube casing 10 and collimator 11 in this example.

It should be evident in FIG. 1 that if strip 25 is longer than shown in channel 20, one may merely move the clamping point 27 to the left without affecting the length of the upper leg 22 of the conductors and their support.

Thus, it should be evidence that a strip of given length is useable in various installations where the length of the vconductors in the channel and the over-all length of channel 2,0 may differ. This is another example of how the parts of the new conductor handling device may be standardized.

The thickness, width, and cross-sectional curvature of strip 25 depends on the conductor load that one desires to support from the strip. In an actual case where the combined weight of several conductors is about 0.7 pound per lineal foot, the strip width is 2.75 inches, its thickness is 0.032 inch, and its radius of curvature is 3.0 inches. The radius of the U-bend 23 is approximately 8.5 inches. The strip was made of No. 1070 spring steel. The strip can be formed, for instance, by passing through rollers run along its length or in a press using a radius punch and a V-die. In the embodiment described above, conductors 19 are carried on the concave side of strip 25 and on the inside of the two legs that are created by the U-bend 23. However, conductors 19 may also be carried on the convex side of strip 25 and on the outside of U-bend 23, or one set of conductors may be on the inside and the other on the outside provided that the clips 32 are modified slightly for accommodating the two sets of conductors, or with two sets of conductors, one set of clips 32 may be applied from one side of strip 25 and another set from the other side.

In some installations, there may be two or more Ibeams such as 14 supporting different kinds of X-ray apparatus in the same room and running on the same track. In such cases, another set of conductors 19 may be admitted to channel 20 from the end opposite that shown in FIG. l and the upper leg of the strip 22 and conductors may be bent back on themselves in the opposite direction. Where more than two beams are used, it is only necessary to have channel members on opposite sides of the room so that two pieces of X-ray equipment may be supplied from one channel and the other one or two may be sup plied with conductors disposed in the other channel.

IAlthough a preferred embodiment of the new X-ray cable handling device has been described in considerable detail relative to an overhead supported X-ray device, such description is to Ibe considered illustrative rather than limiting, for the invention may be variously embodied in X-ray tables and other X-ray apparatus with movable carriages and the like.

We claim:

1. In combination with an X-ray device that is connected with a flexible conductor and adapted for rectilinear movement, the improvement for handling the conductor which comprises:

(a) a channel member with at least one wall thereof having a long conductor exit opening, which member is disposed in parallelism with the line of movement of the device,

(b) a conductor support strip of spring-like material having a cross-section which is concave on one side and convex on the other,

I(c) the said strip being located in the channel member with a U-bend therein to form two substantially parallel and horizontal legs of the strip that normally project in the same direction along the channel and that have their concave sides facing each other,

(d) means fastening one leg of the strip near its end to the movable device and means fastening the other leg of the strip near its end at a point inside and intermediate the ends of the channel member,

(e) a flexible conductor entering the channel member generally in the longitudinal direction of it with a section of the conductor following the path of the strip on the concave side of the legs and on the inside of the U-bend, a part of the conductor that is beyond the end of the strip extending through said exit opening of the channel and being fastened to the movable component,

(f) clip means extending laterally of the strip and engaged therewith at intervals along its length, the said clip means confining and retaining said conductor loosely to permit the strip and conductor to bend on their individual neutral axes in the U-bend region when a leg of the strip is moved endwise by moving the X-ray device.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein:

(a) said channel member constitutes two parts of substantially similar cross-section, with one part being slideably adjustable within the other to permit extending or contracting the total length of the channel member in accordance with the travel required of the movable device.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein:

(a) the inside width dimension of said channel member is slightly greater than the width dimensions of both the strip and the clips, and

(b) inserts extend laterally of the clips for effecting low friction guidance between the movable leg of the strips and the inside of the channel member.

4. X-ray apparatus comprising:

E(a) a track adapted for being mounted in a horizontal plane and extending longitudinally in a room,

(b) a laterally extending beam member supported at its one end of the track for `bidirectional movement longitudinally of the track,

(c) a carriage and an X-ray device mounted thereon,

said carriage being supported for bidirectional movement on the beam member in perpendicular relation to the track,

(d) a channel member adapted for being mounted adjacent and in parallelism to the track, the said channel member having an opening substantially coextensive with its length for conductors to project therefrom,

(e) a plurality of flexible conductors that rungenerally lengthwise of the channel member on its inside to form a first conductor leg and that have a U-bend forming a second conductor leg that is substantially horizontal and parallel with the first leg in the channel,

(f) an elongated conductor support strip of spring-like material having a cross-section which is concave on one side and convex on the other,

(g) the said strip running next to the conductors from a first point on the first leg and around the U-bend to a second point on the second leg,

(h) means attaching the conductors to the strip and to the channel member at the first point,

(i) means for attaching the strip and conductors to the movable beam near the second point, said conductors extending into the beam member, and

(j) a plurality of clip means engaged with the strip at spaced intervals therealong and loosely holding the conductors next to the concave side of the strip to allow the conductors and strip to bend on their individual neutral axes in the U-bend region when the second leg of the strip is moved endwise by movement of the beam member.

5. The invention set forth in claim 4 including:

(a) a second channel member extending along the beam member and having an opening substantially coextensive with its length,

(-b) said conductors running out of the opening of the first channel member and into the second channel member and forming a U-bend and two substantially horizontal and parallel conductor legs,

(c) the end portion of one of said conductor legs projecting from the second channel member opening and being connected to the X-ray device,

(d) an elongated conductor support strip of springlike material having a cross-section which is concave on one side and convex on the other and 7 extending in the beam along the legs of the con- 2,866,101 12/ 1958 Wagner et al. Z50-91 ductor and around the U-bend, 3,373,285 3/ 1968 Barrett 250-91 l(e) means securing one end of the strip to the con- 2,959,634 11/ 1960 Lyon 174-69 X ductors and the carnage, FOREIGN PATENTS (f) means securing the other end of the strip and 5 I the conductors within the second channel member, 732,501 6/ 1955 Great Brltaln.

and (g) a plurality of clip means engaged with the strip ARCHIE R- BORCHELTPUTUMY Examlllef at spaced intervals therealong and loosely holding A LBIRCH, Assistant Examiner the conductors next to the concave side of the strip. 10

` Us. c1. XR. References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,712,080 6/1955 Kmer et a1. 25o- 91 X 

